Jerome Summers, a 5th Ward resident and former Evanston/Skokie School District 65 board member, has been a longtime advocate for a new school in his ward — a mission heavily shaped by his experience attending the old Foster School during the 1950s.
During his elementary years, Summers remembers growing up in a thriving, self-contained community. From hospitals, community centers and local businesses, Summers said the 5th Ward had everything residents could need.
“We were always the jewel of our community — brightness and hope — for the future, for everybody we ever saw,” he said.
However, as the district aimed to integrate its schools, the burden disproportionately fell on students in the city’s 5th Ward, which has historically been predominantly Black. Foster was converted into the integrated Martin Luther King Jr. Experimental Laboratory magnet school before eventually closing for good, and students were reassigned and bused to schools across the city.
“I think integration was really great for Evanston, (but) it was terrible for the Black community. It just destroyed our community,” said Summers.
Just before she passed, Summers’ mother confided that she never should have sent him to another school, he said.
Inspired by his mother’s words and the continued fallout from Foster shuttering, opening a neighborhood school in the 5th Ward was Summer’s top priority when he was elected to the district’s school board in 2005.
After a 2012 referendum to build a 5th Ward school was rejected, the board unanimously approved the project in 2022. Groundbreaking for Foster’s construction began two years later, and the school is now set to open for the 2026-27 school year.
As the district strives to right historical wrongs against Evanston’s Black community through Foster’s construction, community advocates have pushed for the curriculum to reflect that commitment.
“In the 5th Ward, where this community has paid the price for integration for the last 60 years, and you would have programs that enhance European culture and Latino culture, and not (the culture of) these kids that have been paying the toll for 60 years in this place — no, it’s unacceptable,” Summers said.
Nestled between Dewey Avenue and Ashland Avenue while facing Simpson Street, Foster has the capacity to serve 600 K-5 students. Learning at Foster will be guided by the school’s three core values of identity, inquiry and justice as well as the principle of Sankofa, learning from the past to build a better future. Additionally, students spend each year focusing on one of the seven core principles of Nguzo Saba, also known as Kwanzaa.
These values stem from the African Centered Curriculum, which centers learning on African heritage and identity. At Foster, aspects of ACC will be implemented throughout the school day.
ACC Reimagined
Foster will open alongside the 20th anniversary of ACC in District 65. In 2006, former Oakton Elementary School PTA president Terri Shepard co-founded the school’s ACC program after recognizing that the district was failing to meet the needs of African American students. Specifically, she pushed for a program that would help Black students see themselves in the curriculum.
After facing a series of obstacles, including reluctance from the superintendent and school board at the time, one ACC strand was brought to Oakton. Community members tried to expand ACC to Kingsley Elementary, but according to Shepard, the district “didn’t want it.”
“Not one of those schools ever came to Oakton to review that program to see if it’s something they would like to have for the Black students that attended their schools,” Shepard said. “I’m just going to say it’s pure racism, and I’m not going to bite my tongue.”
Once Shepard and other advocates learned that a school would be coming to the 5th Ward, they pushed hard for the adoption of a new ACC program.
Foster’s ACC program, called ACC Reimagined, retains key components of the Oakton program. However, while Oakton’s ACC strand is limited to students who have opted in, ACC Reimagined will be built into every Foster student’s experience.
ACC Reimagined incorporates community creeds and affirmation circles, cooperative learning structures, cultural celebrations and more to instill self-confidence and a sense of belonging in students, according to an overview of the school presented by incoming Foster Principal Charlise Berkel at the District 65 board’s Nov. 3 meeting.
Foster students also have the opportunity to join the two Two-Way Immersion strands within the school.
Shepard said students who have gone through ACC are better prepared to move on to the next level. According to her, classrooms are “full of literature,” and students tend to be avid readers.
“I had a District 65 administrator tell me that you may find an (ACC) educated kid in middle school that may not know something, but you cannot convince (them) that (they) can’t learn,” Shepard said. “The confidence that is instilled is worth something as well.”
School construction continues amid closure debate
The opening of Foster coincides with the district’s goal to close schools in Phase 3 of its Structural Deficit Reduction Plan, which aims to cut between $10.9 and $14.85 million from the budget before fiscal year 2030.
At Monday’s board meeting, the board failed to advance a single school closure scenario, leaving many questions unanswered about the board’s plans for financial sustainability. The board is scheduled to meet Thursday to vote on a fourth scenario and discuss its cost-cutting options. Every scenario considered by the board at its Monday and Thursday meetings impacts schools attended by students from the 5th Ward.
Foster School will also open as Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies closes. At a Nov. 17 board meeting, the district said that K-4 Bessie Rhodes students will be reassigned to Foster unless their families complete a “return to home school request.” As the board considers other school closures, district administrators recommended that the board maintain that commitment at its Monday meeting.
Bessie Rhodes parent Heather Huddleston, who plans to send her children to Foster, said the timing of the school’s opening has been a point of contention for community members.
“The timing is really, really terrible, given the budget and everything going on,” Huddleston said. “Because it comes with all this other chaos, it’s hard to be excited about it.”
During a Nov. 3 board meeting, it was announced that, as of now, Foster’s construction is projected to finish $3.7 million under budget. According to the district’s monthly financial dashboard for Foster’s construction budget, 55.5% of the project’s budget has been spent to date.
In January 2024, the board had to shift Foster School to a K-5 model because with a K-8 model, the school was projected to cost $65 million to build — $25 million over its allotted budget. The board later voted on a final budget of $48.5 million.
A June 2024 district resolution stated that the financial constraints of Foster’s construction made continued operation of Bessie Rhodes untenable. For the 2026-27 school year, Bessie Rhodes families have the option to continue their TWI education as a cohort at the new Foster School.
While Huddleston is saddened to let go of the tight-knit Bessie Rhodes community, she said being part of the inaugural Foster cohort is a great opportunity.
“I want my kids to go there, and I want to be a part of the foundation, of building that success, working with the administration, the teachers and the other families,” she said.
Despite upheaval in District 65, a cautious sense of optimism permeates discussions of the 5th Ward’s new school.
“I’m hopeful,” Summers said. “I guess that’s all I can say. I know that the community will never be what it was. It can’t be. But I hope that (students) find a sense of belonging in their community.”
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
Related Stories:
— Katie and David Hauser: As Foster opens to solve historical inequities, ‘don’t do the exact same thing’
— Shorthanded D65 board balks in school closure vote, sets Thursday meeting for forgotten scenario
— Community advocates for African Centered Curriculum at Foster School
